Symptoms Associated With Infant Teething: A Prospective Study
Symptoms Associated With Infant Teething: A Prospective Study
Symptoms Associated With Infant Teething: A Prospective Study
Michael L. Macknin, MD*; Marion Piedmonte, MA; Jonathan Jacobs, MD*; and Christine Skibinski, MS
ABSTRACT. Context. Studies of infant teething have
been retrospective, small, or conducted on institutionalized infants.
Objectives. To conduct a large, prospective study of
healthy infants to determine which symptoms may be
attributed to teething and to attempt to predict tooth
emergence from an infants symptoms.
Design. Prospective cohort.
Setting. Clinic-based pediatric group practice.
Patients. One hundred twenty-five consecutive well
children of consenting Cleveland Clinic employees.
Outcome Measures. Parents daily recorded 2 tympanic temperatures, presence or absence of 18 symptoms,
and all tooth eruptions in their infants, from the 4-month
well-child visit until the child turned 1 year old.
Results. Daily symptom data were available for
19 422 child-days and 475 tooth eruptions. Symptoms
were only significantly more frequent in the 4 days before a tooth emergence, the day of the emergence, and 3
days after it, so this 8-day window was defined as the
teething period. Increased biting, drooling, gum-rubbing, sucking, irritability, wakefulness, ear-rubbing, facial rash, decreased appetite for solid foods, and mild
temperature elevation were all statistically associated
with teething. Congestion, sleep disturbance, stool looseness, increased stool number, decreased appetite for liquids, cough, rashes other than facial rashes, fever over
102F, and vomiting were not significantly associated
with tooth emergence. Although many symptoms were
associated with teething, no symptom occurred in >35%
of teething infants, and no symptom occurred >20%
more often in teething than in nonteething infants. No
teething child had a fever of 104F and none had a lifethreatening illness.
Conclusions. Many mild symptoms previously
thought to be associated with teething were found in this
study to be temporally associated with teething. However, no symptom cluster could reliably predict the imminent emergence of a tooth. Before caregivers attribute
any infants signs or symptoms of a potentially serious
illness to teething, other possible causes must be ruled
out. Pediatrics 2000;105:747752; teething, tooth eruption,
teeth, deciduous dentition.
From the *Departments of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.
Received for publication May 17, 1999; accepted Oct 28, 1999.
Reprint requests to (M.L.M.) Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicine, A120, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195. Email: macknin@ccf.org
PEDIATRICS (ISSN 0031 4005). Copyright 2000 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Study Methods
All parents agreed to participate in an 8-month study beginning
at the time of their childs 4-month well-child visit. To mask the
purpose of the study from the parents, we described the study as
one of normal infant behavior. Parents were given a Thermoscan
(Thermoscan Inc, San Diego, CA) ear thermometer. Parents were
shown by a pediatric nurse or pediatrician how to use the Thermoscan properly, and parents measured temperatures using
proper technique under observation in the office. We provided
Fahrenheit thermometers and reported results in Fahrenheit because we believed the parents were more familiar with Fahrenheit
than Celsius temperature measurements. Parents were told always to take several measurements before recording the highest
temperature reading. They were asked to record their infants
tympanic temperature twice a day at the same time each morning
and each evening before bedtime, to check for tooth eruption daily
by feeling if a new tooth had broken through the gums, and to
record the location of every newly erupted tooth. Parents also kept
a daily log of 18 symptoms. All concurrent illnesses, medications,
and immunizations were also recorded. All information was
maintained on a standard form (Fig 1). Study forms were collected
monthly, and if parents did not call in every 2 weeks as instructed,
they were contacted to ensure continued participation in the
study.
Sample Size
We wanted to estimate the proportion of patients with abnormal symptoms during the teething period (thought to be 30%)
and compare it to the proportion with abnormal symptoms outside of the teething period (thought to be 10%). The projected
sample size allowed for a 20% drop-out rate and provided power
of 90% to detect the differences between proportions described
above, with a type I error rate of 5%, and estimates that were
accurate to within 9%.
Statistical Methods
For the comparisons described below, multivariate quasi-likelihood models were used, with parameters and standard errors
estimated using generalized estimating equations.11 This method
is analogous to logistic regression but with appropriate modifications to account for the repeated measurements on each child. This
requires specification of the relationship between the covariates
and the mean response, as well as an initial estimate of the
correlation structure among multiple observations from the same
individual. A logistic model was used for the relationship between
the covariates and the binary response from a given individual,
and independence, exchangeable, or auto-regressive correlation
structures were assumed depending on the model.
First we tested whether the set of 18 symptoms and temperatures together, observed on a particular day, was associated with
an increased likelihood of tooth emergence on a different day. For
example, it was of interest to know whether symptoms observed
on 1 day might indicate that a tooth was coming on the following
Fig 1. The daily symptom sheet completed by parents was described as a study of normal infant health and behavior.
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TABLE 1.
Enrollment Characteristics of 111 Infants With
Completed Diaries in Teething Study
Variable
Sex
Race
Primary liquid
nutrition
Solid nutrition
Number of siblings in
home
Mother living in
home
Father living in home
At least 1 parent with
at least 4-year
college degree
Infant in day care
Number of h in day
care
RESULTS
Total number of teeth
Enrollment
Value
Male
Female
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other
Exclusively breast
milk
Breast milk and
formula
Formula
Missing
None
On some days
Every day
0
46
65
88
7
1
11
4
38
41.4
58.6
79.3
6.3
.9
9.9
3.6
34.2
22
19.8
51
2
45
33
31
51
45.9
1.8
40.5
29.7
27.9
45.9
1
2
3
4
5
Not indicated
46
10
2
1
1
9
41.4
9.0
1.8
.9
.9
8.1
Yes
Not indicated
Yes
Yes
102
9
102
101
91.9
8.1
91.9
91.0
No
Missing
Missing
Yes
No
0 or missing
3
7
1
28
82
83
2.7
6.3
.9
25.2
73.9
74.5
20 h/wk
20 h/wk
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
18
10
22
4
14
5
12
10
12
11
16
3
1
1
16.2
.9
19.8
3.6
12.6
4.5
10.8
9.0
10.8
9.9
14.4
2.7
.9
.9
Although there were statistically significant associations between many symptoms and tooth emergence, no symptom occurred in 35% of infants
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TABLE 2.
Defining the Teething Period: Results of Testing
When Symptoms Were Associated With Tooth Eruption
Symptoms Observed
on This Day
P Value
7 d earlier
6 d earlier
5 d earlier
4 d earlier
3 d earlier
2 d earlier
1 d earlier
Day 0
1 d later
2 d later
3 d later
4 d later
.077
.777
.091
.009
.001
.001
.001
.001
.001
.001
.001
.070
during their 8-day teething periods, and no symptom occurred 20% more often in the teething period than in the nonteething period. Ten symptoms
had a significant relationship to tooth emergence at
some point during the teething period: biting, drooling, gum-rubbing, irritability, sucking, sleep awakenings, ear-rubbing, rash on face, decreased appetite
for solids, and temperature higher than mean plus 1
standard deviation. Figures 2 and 3 show the frequency with which these 10 symptoms were reported on each day within 1 month of a tooth emergence. Although many combinations of symptoms
were examined, no set of symptoms could predict
that a tooth was about to emerge.
Each symptom on each day was examined independently to define when and which abnormal
symptoms were associated with tooth emergence.
Figure 4 shows that abnormal biting and drooling on
any day within the 8-day span were significantly
associated with tooth emergence on a given day 0.
Abnormal gum-rubbing (except 4 days before), irritability (except 3 and 4 days before), and sucking
(from 2 days before to 2 days after) were also associated with tooth emergence. Abnormal appetite for
solids, wakefulness, ear-rubbing, and facial rash
showed associations (P .01) on days close to the
tooth eruption but not on days further away.
Increased congestion, stool looseness, stool number, and decreased sleep duration were more frequent on days close to tooth eruption. However,
although the P values for these associations were
.05, they were not considered statistically significant because they were larger than .01. Abnormal
appetite for liquids, cough, rashes other than facial
rashes, and vomiting showed no significant associations with tooth emergence.
Association of Temperatures and Tooth Eruptions
To our knowledge, this is the first large prospective study with daily records of a large number of
symptoms possibly associated with teething in
healthy outpatients. Our findings largely confirm
those of Tasanen,2 who performed a prospective
study of 192 tooth eruptions in 126 healthy institutionalized infants. Tasanen found that tooth eruption
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TABLE 3.
Percentage of Children With Elevated Temperatures on Days With Tooth Emergences and Days Without Tooth
Emergences
Temperatures Days Without Tooth
Emergences
100F
101F
102F
103F
104F
105F
Percentage
95% CI
Percent
95% CI
12.46
2.79
.074
.30
.13
.04
9.4516.27
2.003.88
.541.01
.20.48
17.34
5.96
2.44
.27
.00
.00
11.4925.33
2.8612.03
.648.83
.041.84
.046
.001
.052
.903
was linked with daytime restlessness, thumb-sucking, gum-rubbing, drooling, and perhaps, a loss of
appetite. He found no association with infection, diarrhea, fever, rash, convulsions, sleep disturbance,
cough, or rubbing of the ear or cheek. Our study
results contradicted those of Tasanen only in that we
found tooth eruption to be associated with slight
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The association (P .01) between symptoms occurring several days before (or after) a tooth emergence
and a subsequent (or previous) tooth emergence imply that these symptoms are linked to the teething
process. The strongest associated symptoms were biting, drooling, gum-rubbing, irritability, and sucking,
which occurred with greater frequency during the 4
days before and up to 3 days after a tooth emergence.
Symptoms that increased in frequency only on the
same day and or a day or 2 before a tooth emergence
included decreased appetite for solids, wakefulness,
ear-rubbing, facial rash, and abnormal temperature.
Symptoms that showed association with teething only
at the .01 P .05 level were sleep disturbance,
congestion, and stool looseness or number. Symptoms
that showed no significant associations with teething
were decreased appetite for liquids, cough, rash other
than facial rash, and temperature greater than 102F.
Of particular note, none of the fevers higher than
104F and only one over 103F that occurred during the
369 tooth eruptions were unexplained by another illness known to be associated with fever. Temperatures
over 100F occurred on 2067 days during the study, but
only 64 of these were days in which a tooth emerged.
We discovered no evidence that teething was associated with any severe, health-threatening conditions. Thus, before attributing any signs or symptoms of a potentially serious illness to teething,
physicians and parents must rule out other possible
causes. Additional prospective studies may help determine whether occasionally individuals experience
signs and symptoms in association with tooth eruption not described in our article.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by a grant from Thermoscan
Inc, and by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation General Pediatrics
Research Fund.
We thank Charlene Mahovlic for reminding parents to fill out
the study forms and for typing the manuscript, Jessica Ancker for
medical editing, and the Cleveland Clinic general pediatric physicians and nurses for their help in recruiting patients for this
study.
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